WorkPuzzle

Why fundamentals are more important than talent: Obsess about the right things

I am, unfortunately right now...a Seattle Mariners fan.  Those of you who follow baseball can guess that I haven’t had much to be excited about these last couple of years.  The Mariners have had two terrible seasons in a row, despite acquiring some impressive talent.  "What’s their problem?" you may ask.
 
In my opinion, the factors that led to these dismal years for the Mariners are the very same factors that lead to the collapse of most organizations...failure to remember and practice the fundamentals, and at times, an obsession with acquiring great talent while ignoring the fundamentals of execution.

Let me be clear.  I am not saying that talent is not important.  It can be incredibly helpful, if the fundamentals aren’t lost in the process.  But, several teams over the course of sports history have proven that talent without a focus on the fundamentals, is essentially worthless.
 
The Mariners present a prime example of this:  There are two players on their roster who continue to  out-perform their competing peers, despite the Mariner's overall record.  Ichiro just put up a record 10th consecutive year of over 200 hits in a season.  Additionally, ace pitcher, Felix Hernandez, is so talented that he is stirring up one the most difficult votes for the Cy Young Award in the history of baseball.  He has managed to out-pace all personal stats among his peers, while having the lowest wins, by far, among the contenders for the award.  In essence this means that his performance was stellar, but had no run support.

So what went wrong?  How can we have such great talent and such poor performance?  In the case of the Mariners, it is my belief that ownership was more obsessed with talent on the field than talent in management.  The manager, although a decent human being, turned out to not be a great manager.  He made several mistakes that were eventually reflected in the win/loss columns, and eventually led to his dismissal.
 
I have some definite ideas regarding what specifically went wrong with the Mariners, but they are not alone...I’ve witnessed some of the same mistakes in other organizations.  I won’t address them yet, because I want to hear from you first.  I want to build a helpful and informative list - not a definitive list, but a list based on good knowledge and experience; One that we can look back on and build on.  I want this list to not only be a ho-hum list of basics, but a list that really speaks to us and calls us to action- when it comes to sourcing, recruiting, managing talent, and overall good business.  Ben's recent article on developing and sticking with a definitive message is a great start. 

Over the course of the next few weeks, I will set out to research this subject in a way that hopefully will present the most foundational, most urgent, most vital principle fundamentals of successful organizations.  There has never been a time where this has been more needed than now.  The tide is out, and we’re seeing who is wearing a decent bathing suit...

What I would like from you readers is your personal list of favorite fundamentals.  If you are uncomfortable listing this publicly, please write me personally by email.

I look forward to hearing from you.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.  

Converting Conference Excitement Into Long-Term Habits

Many of us have experienced the emotional high that results from a well run motivational sales conference.  Unfortunately, not many of us successfully convert that flash of energy into long-term change that impacts our business.

What's missing?  We are not using that temporary moment of motivation to begin the process of replacing old habits with new ones.

Successful people understand that their success, in part, is derived from a consistent pattern of converting emotional "ah-ha" experiences into sustainable long-term habits and rituals.  Without the habits and rituals, we keep doing what we did before, and those “ah-ha” catalyst moments are forever lost.

If you are naturally gifted at converting these short-term energy bursts into the hard work of developing and sustaining long-term habits, then chances are, you have built a successful life.  That is what successful people do.

What might come as a surprise to you is that most people don’t do this.  It may even frustrate you that people under your management don’t do the things that you do so automatically.  It's critical for managers to understand that they need to expand their role to include teaching others the formula for forming new habits.  It's also imperative for managers to develop systems to help this become part of the overall culture.

A recent survey of 10,000 real estate professionals outlines what agents expect from their company.  Look at what came in number 2 and 3:

1. Respect, honesty and trust
2. Leadership, guidance
3. Accountability / career coaching

According to the second two expectations, agents are expecting you to hold them accountable.  This desire opens the “I give you permission” door to teaching and building what I am about to describe.

To accomplish the above you must become an expert at habit change, as well as an educator, facilitator and creative strategist in building venues around sustaining these changes.  So, let me help you get started on becoming an expert on change...

People resist change.  Period.  For most people change must be understood, taught and aided toward and through implementation.  Habits are not formed by emotion (although this is the initial catalyst).  Change comes through a very predictable formula.

So, what does create change?  People say will power is the primary ingredient, and that is true to some extent.  But, will power without action, doesn’t work.

Let me use an example that is relevant at this very moment.  Millions of five-year-olds are starting school for the first time this month.  I live on what is referred to as “Education Hill” in Redmond, Washington.  There are five schools, three of which are elementary schools, within 1.3 miles of my home.  My commute is heaven in the summer and horrible in the fall.  Why?  Because all of these new-to-school children are being dropped off by their parents to ease the transition into this new habit of leaving home daily and going to school.

The first few days, there are tears, tantrums and resistance to this intrusive new habit of leaving donuts, Barney, Lego’s, and Sesame Street at home, and instead being expected to sit quietly without mom or dad, for three to six hours at a time, with a teacher who wants them to concentrate on what she’s teaching them.  Yuck. 

A month into this process, most children will have converted this whole new process into a habit that they’ve learned to enjoy and sustain.  This serves as a great example of the fundamentals of habit change.

So here are the steps made simple - A habit will become part of your typical day if you do these things:

1. Start it now.  New habits must begin when the emotional surge or temporary insight is available and fresh.  You, as a manager, must be prepared to help new agents and experienced agents returning from a conference, implement new habits, and get rid of old ones immediately.
2. Do it early in the day.  Any new habit is much more likely to be sustained if it is initiated in the morning hours, if not first thing in the morning.  Once behaviors become habits they can be moved around throughout the day.  For example, when I first started working out 24 years ago, I had to do it in the morning.  Now that I can’t imagine life without it, I can move it around the day, knowing I’ll get to it.
3. Don’t deviate.  This is key.  You must maintain the new behavior or task for at least 45 days if it is being practiced daily, and up to 4 months if it is weekly, to begin to feel like it is a habit.  Anyone who attempts to reward themselves with old habits while trying to build new ones, is usually doomed to failure.
4. Set up accountability.  This is where you come in.  There must be systems developed to help the agents keep themselves accountable.  This is usually done in one-on-ones, groups, or both.  There is a reason why AA is so popular.

One of our most successful clients has a manager or two who have developed groups that meet in the mornings on a regular basis, specifically to build new habits.  One manager even began a walking group that meets in the mornings for a two-mile walk, three times weekly.

The point is, as a manager, this is your job.  Your agents want it.  Become experts at delivering it.  If you're too busy to do the above, then you may need to find others to put out the fires so that you can spend more time doing what really impacts the business--- and the lives of those entrusting their livelihood to you.

 

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.  

Spotting a Psychopath in Your Network of Business Contacts - Part 2

Last week I wrote about a topic that is typically outside the range of our more applicable subjects: How to recognize a psychopath when you encounter one in business...and knowing what to do about it.

As you may recall, my advice around this topic is to not lose sleep over it, and certainly to not start any rumors around who you suspect may be one.  The point of this discussion is to help you gain an awareness of how to recognize these people so that you can keep your distance from them.  You can’t be harmed if you don’t take their bait. 

I promised to share the characteristics of psychopaths so you can recognize them in action.  Remember, very few are serial killers, like Hannibal.  On the contrary, most high-functioning psychopaths are smart enough to stay out of jail, are often successful in business, and appear to fit in.  To help you identify red flags, know that psychopaths typically:

• are prone to boredom and require more constant stimulation
• lead a parasitic lifestyle
• practice sexual promiscuity
• lack realistic long-term goals
• display extreme impulsivity
• are glib
• possess a grandiose sense of self-worth
• are pathological liars
• con and manipulate
• lack remorse
• have shallow emotions
• lack empathy
• fail to accept responsibility
• And finally, and unfortunately, they carry the appearance of normalcy despite being guilty of the most destructive behavior. 

What makes dealing with psychopaths frustrating is that they lack a conscience when it comes to inflicting harm on others.  Research has found that they also have no fear of pain or of the consequences of their behavior.  Please beware that these people are incredibly capable of assessing your needs and exploiting them for their own purposes.

For the two people who asked me about this subject matter recently....I hope this answers your questions.  For the rest of you, I hope you’ll never need to refer back to this information. ...

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.  

Spotting a Psychopath in Your Network of Business Contacts

This topic may seem a bit odd for WorkPuzzle, but stick with me—I think you’ll find it beneficial.  Over the last few weeks, two clients have requested information about this topic.  So, I felt compelled to distribute some knowledge about psychopaths to our clients and readers.  Hopefully, this will prevent or minimize your exposure to these dangerous people who can wreak havoc on both your business and personal life.  

Do you really need to be worried about psychopaths?  It is not something I would lose sleep over, but chances are you've come in contact with a psychopath at some point in your career and you probably will do so again.  Experts estimate that between 0.5% and 1% of the population fit this diagnosis.  This means there are roughly 250,000 psychopaths (outside of prison) in the United States alone.  

Professionally, I have performed psychological evaluations on well over 100 psychopaths during my career, and I unknowingly attempted therapy on three high-functioning psychopaths before figuring out their condition.  I have also had the displeasure of trusting two psychopaths in my business network.  The first was a former boss who was a well-respected and gregarious leader.  The second was a financial advisor.  In both cases, these individuals eventually left a wake of devastation in the lives of everyone I knew who trusted them in the context of a business relationship.

I’m sharing this information in hopes that you can avoid some of the pain I’ve experienced personally and have seen others experience because of these people.  I’ve come to the conclusion that spotting a psychopath and then extracting yourself from any relationship you may have with such a person is a skill that could save years of heartache for you, your co-workers, and perhaps your family.

There is a great deal of misunderstanding regarding psychopaths.  In essence, they are people who don’t care about the irreparable harm they cause their victims.  They lack any empathy for their victims.  They have no conscience.  No guilt.  No shame.
 
The common thing people think of when they picture a psychopath is a serial killer.  Serial killers are indeed psychopaths, but this accounts for a very small percentage of the total.  Some criminals are psychopaths.  In fact, many lower IQ psychopaths end up in prison.  But, even the prisons contain only a small percentage of the overall number of psychopaths. 

The type of psychopath you would be most likely to encounter is termed a “high-functioning” psychopath.  High-functioning psychopaths can be very successful, appear confident, calm, and seem have their act together.  In fact, most psychopaths are actually more engaging than the average person.  They can be charming, knowledgeable and quite believable.

The primary characteristic that distinguishes a psychopath from the general population is that they are insatiable liars and skilled manipulators.  The reason for the masterful lying is that they feel absolutely no shame or guilt about the deception.  No regrets.  In fact, science is discovering, through recent brain scans, that psychopaths don't feel much of anything, with the exception of becoming quite irritated when things don't go their way.

Because they are such skilled manipulators, they are exceptionally good at figuring out your weaknesses, exploiting those weaknesses, and feeling absolutely nothing regarding their actions.  Even when their efforts are stymied, they usually return to test your willingness or gullibility to go one more round. 

When research is conducted on psychopaths, they’ve been shown to repeatedly convince people they are worthy of trust.  Inexperienced interns often describe a psychopath as “one of the wisest, most humorous and engaging men (most psychopaths are men) they have ever met.”

What does this mean for each of you?  I’ll answer this question with two warnings:

1. Don’t get overly paranoid and begin suspecting everyone around you is a psychopath!  And, don’t begin rumors out of pure speculation.
2. Take what I will teach you about this topic seriously enough to be able to identify someone with this condition when it’s appropriate.  And when you do have strong evidence that someone is a psychopath, stay away from them.  They can’t hurt you if you don’t trust them. 

In the next edition, I’ll describe in much more detail how to spot a psychopath through a specific set of characteristics.  I will also describe some interesting research regarding the lack of emotion that is routinely characteristic of psychopaths.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.  

Jet Blue Moments and Resilience

As I pointed out in my last blog, when people are undergoing economic and job-related stress, evidence confirms some important principles that determine what direction one takes.  Namely, that under economic and job-related stress, either people grow and go on to achieve, or they regress and become physically and emotionally unhealthy.  

I used the Jet Blue incident as a backdrop to launch some learning on what happens to people who respond like Slater and alternatively, what happens to people who actually reframe their current job-related stress in a different way.  I actually received a comment from someone that implied that Slater (the airline attendant who threw a public temper tantrum) was not in the wrong.  If you share this opinion, you are headed in a precarious direction.  There is more than ample evidence that adulthood stress can help you grow, if you're willing to reassess how growth and achievement takes place.

Dr. Kerry Sulkowicz makes it clear that you are going to need resilience if you are going to maintain a clear head during  tough times:

“Many psychologists consider [resilience] a key component of emotional health.  Resilient people, they have observed, are naturally better at containing their anxiety.  And that enables them to see in hardship the seeds of opportunity.  What would emotional resilience entail in the face of the current crisis?  The ability to resist being swept up in the global state of panic and to adapt as creatively as possible to one's setbacks and losses.”

We see this principle played out with our clients every day.  Some people are not very good at containing their anxiety and they become paralyzed as a result.  But, others are busy working to find new opportunities.  We all feel the strain, but certain people have figured out how to use that strain as a catalyst for action.

If you find yourself in the former group, Dr. Sulkowicz has some advice for you:

“But just as there is no shortcut to emotional health, you can't become resilient overnight, or by sheer will, or by reading the latest book on the subject.  Instead, resilience is acquired through increasing self-awareness.  You must connect with trusted and candid intimates who help you build confidence.  You need to repeatedly expose yourself to a range of difficult circumstances and then overcome them.”

If you are responsible for coaching those around you, you have a great opportunity to put this into practice.  You are the “trusted and candid intimate” your protégés need to overcome their anxiety.  Can you help them identify the things they are already overcoming?  This is the foundation to build upon that can give them courage to take on the next challenge.

If you are struggling yourself, then you need to connect with others who can provide you support.  The first tendency will be to just talk with those who will compassionately identify with your circumstances.  Slater has an entire fan club filled with this sort of support....all people who are going nowhere fast.  While sympathetic support is important, but we also need those “tough love” friends who can give us the push we need to take on the next challenge...

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.  

How to Prevent your own Jet Blue moment: And Succeed

Our recent blog regarding the Jet Blue incident was more popular than we had anticipated.  Last week we wrote about the bizarre behavior of Steven Slater, the now infamous Jet Blue flight attendant who decided to grab two beers and take the short cut home from work.  (If you need a quick refresher on what happened, here is a quick video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mNRhlrBqOc)

Feedback we received shortly after our posting suggests that frustration is gaining momentum in the Real Estate industry as well.

Here is one of the responses we received:

"I have noticed frustration, anger and impatience toward other agents, clients, staff, and managers.  Deals fall apart frequently, obsessive agents hound each other to try and keep a deal, disputes are abounding, and rudeness seems to be a daily dose of medicine." 

Clearly this outlandish display of immaturity by Slater is somewhat of a "cannery in the coal mine" when it comes to today's stress in the services industry sectors.  So, if you can at all sympathize with Slater's frustration or have experienced some growing frustration toward clients, other agents or managers, it may be time to take a deep breath, and really try to figure out what is causing your stress and what you can do about it, before you have your own Jet Blue moment.

Psychologically if you have been more irritable and angry on the job, it can mean a variety of different things, as these are symptoms and could be completely personal in origin.  But, when it happens to an entire culture it points to something much more general in nature regarding stress from factors that are probably inherent in the culture itself.  Instead of delving into factors such as economic conditions, changing customer solutions, change in lifestyle related to the above, etc... I'm going to address the consequences of these stressors and the solutions to reducing stress by reframing your current condition.

The research on resilience tells us there are two potential outcomes when it comes to responding to today's economic stressors:  Either you’ll become stronger and more successful, or you’ll become weaker, less mentally healthy, and less likely to do great things in the future.

Which outcome best describes you?  The answer to this question will depend on how you’re able to handle job-related stress and whether you can become a resilient person.

Management consultants, Salvatore Maddi and Deborah Khoshaba, conducted a 12-year study of the Illinois Bell Telephone (IBT) company staff who were enduring almost constant organizational change during the de-regulation changes in the telephone industry.

Every year for 12 years, 450 IBT employees (including supervisors, managers and executives) were interviewed, evaluated, given psychological tests, and given medical examinations.  While everyone in the organization was feeling stress, almost 50% of those sampled lost their jobs.  The purpose of the study was to research how people under job-related stress handled these difficult conditions. 

The research revealed that the employees reacted to the stress in two distinct ways:

• 65% of the employees suffered additional serious stress-related events in their lives such as divorce, heart attack, depression, anxiety, and drug/alcohol abuse.
• 35% of the employees thrived under the stress. If they stayed at IBT, they rose to the top of the heap. If they left, they either started companies of their own or took strategically important employment in other companies.

When the data started to show a distinct difference between the two groups of employees, the researchers then attempted to quantify what caused a person to be part of the second group.

In their book, Resilience at Work, the researchers outlined their findings.  A “resilient person” is someone who possesses and embraces the following:  commitment, control, and challenge.

“As times get tough, if you hold these attitudes, you'll believe that it is best to stay involved with the people and events around you (commitment) rather than to pull out, to keep trying to influence the outcomes in which you are involved (control) rather than to give up, and to try to discover how you can grow through the stress (challenge) rather than to bemoan your fate.”

In short, a steadfast commitment allowed the resilient employees to engage more fully in the job at hand (or with a new opportunity for those who lost their jobs).  This helped them to understand and interpret the events that were having an impact on them.

Their sense of control empowered the resilient employees to consider ways that they could proactively influence the changes that were affecting them.  Their less resilient colleagues tended to passively withdraw effort, believing there was little they could do to impact what they believed was their fate.

Furthermore, the resilient employees interpreted the stressors and changes as a challenge, and tended to look for the potential opportunities that change would bring about.  They took the outlook that change is an inevitable part of life.  It didn’t mean that these people enjoyed the stress, but the positive outlook they took positioned them to keep an eye open for new opportunities.

My hunch is that Steven Slater didn't view his stress in this way.  The brain simply can't sustain any problem solving when your fight or flight response is firing as if your being chased by a saber tooth tiger. You have two choices:  remain frustrated and take it out on yourself and everyone else, or GROW!  Anyone can act like they have their act together during good times, but only people who want to develop great strength of character will respond well when times are tough.

In the next blog I'll write more on the characteristics of resilience.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.  

How to get things done: Best answer yet

If you're finding yourself struggling to get things done, or worse yet, having trouble even remembering what you have to get done, this blog is for you.  There are several tips I have found over the years that have helped me make the most of each hour of the day.  Many of the tips have been put to use religiously, - like David Allen's tip... that if something will take two minutes or less of your time to complete, do it now!  I've practiced that one and have benefited greatly from it.

Having said this, I haven't found an entire system, yet, to pull it all together.  I have several ways of reminding myself of various projects, and fortunately I have a good memory, so far...but sometimes I fear that I'm forgetting something important.

But, thanks to Michael Hyatt, I have a new system in place.  It involves using the idea of a primary "command center" as your to-do list system.  This command center functions to maintain your central focus throughout the day.  I especially like the tool he uses and plan to purchase it.  Here's what Michael does to make his to-do list his personal command center:   

1. Make sure your to-do list consists of “next actions.” This is the secret to getting things done and avoiding procrastination. You have to break a project down into discrete actions. For example, “Prepare Thomas Nelson Strategic Plan” is a project. “Write first draft of updated vision statement” is a discrete action within that project. I try to create a bite-sized action that I can complete in less than a few hours. If it’s going to take more than that, I break the action down further.
2. Prepare your to-do page the night before. I like to do this toward the very end of the day. This gives my subconscious a chance to work on the items overnight. I find that I am much more productive the next day if I do this. It also gives me a chance to hit the ground running, knowing exactly what needs to be accomplished.
3. Review your to-do list first thing in the morning. Before I do anything else, I review my calendar and my to-do page. The calendar provides the “hard edges” of my non-discretionary time. These are the things I must do. My to-do list provides the discretionary items I will have to get done when I am not in a meeting or otherwise committed. Reviewing these items first, provides me with the opportunity to make last minute adjustments to my game plan. I also arrange these items in roughly the order I plan to do them.
4. Stay focused on your to-do page throughout the day. I always have my to-do list in front of me. I use Things, a software program for the Mac, so it is only a keystroke a way. But the tool is really unimportant. There are tons of great ones on the market, including Nozbe (another favorite) or even a plain old Moleskine Notebook. The main thing is to stay focused on one project at a time, check it off, and then go to the next one. When your to-do page is your command center, it keeps you from getting distracted by everything else pinging your brain.
5. Add to your to-do list as items occur. You want to be able to get to-dos out of your head and into a reliable system for follow-up at the appropriate time. If they keep rattling around in your head they “consume psychic energy,” as David Allen puts it. Again, I try to keep this a keystroke away. With Things, I just press ^⌘-Space, and it opens a new to-do window. If my cursor is on an email message, it automatically links that message to the new to-do item. But again, the tool is not important. Use what makes it fast and effortless.
6. Rinse and repeat. I rarely get everything on my daily to-do list done. Items that I don’t complete become candidates for tomorrow’s page. Sometimes, that makes them more important for tomorrow’s list or I realize that these items are no longer a priority and delete them altogether. Regardless, at the end of the day, I start the cycle over and prepare for tomorrow.

If you have tools or systems for getting stuff done, I'd love to hear about them...

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.  

8 Behaviors of “Restraining” Leaders

Earlier this week I posted the research-based list of behaviors of successful leaders, found in the book by Hodgson and White called “Relax, It's Only Uncertainty.”  Don’t you love that title?  Chances are if you love the title, you're one of the successful leaders/managers who naturally embody the traits that were found to lead people well.

 

The latest issue of one my professional journals focuses its entire publication on how to best lead in uncertain times.  Having outlined the traits that successful managers possess, I'll next present the behaviors of managers who tend to fail.  It turns out that those who don’t deal well with uncertainty tend to not fair so well...

 

Now, before I share with you the list of behaviors, let me warn you... If you find yourself guilty of these behaviors, don’t get too discouraged.  There is a place for you... it just may not be leading an organization.

 

Hodgson and White were able to identify the following clusters of behaviors found in managers who tend to not lead well.  He called these managers the “Restrainers.”

 

“Restrainers” demonstrated these measurable actions:

1. “Poor Transitioners” have difficulty shifting from one kind of activity to another. These individuals have a limited repertoire and tend to rely too much on a select few areas of strength.
2. “Wet Blankets” dampen the energy of an organization. They convey enthusiasm for their own work and respond poorly to the excitement of others.
3. “Conflict Avoiders” tend to be overly accommodating to others, often the result of being averse to interpersonally heated situations.
4. “Muddy Thinkers” exhibit confusion that is sometimes self-inflicted. They process information in a way that makes things more complicated that it has to be.
5. “Complex Communicators” explain in unnecessarily complicated language.
6. “Detail Junkies” can’t see the forest for the trees. They often obsess over smaller tactical issues to the exclusion of larger strategic trends.
7. “Narrow thinkers” have tunnel vision. They are focused on the moment and blind to new possibilities.
8. “Repeaters” are tethered to the past and continue to rely on actions that worked in the past, but may no longer be relevant for the present and future.

Let me know if any of these traits resonate with you.  Have you seen leaders fail?  Did they possess any of these traits?  Here’s another question... What do the best leaders do with those on their team who do practice the above?

 

People who display these traits have an important place.  Some of the above traits can be essential in certain roles.  For example, I want a detail junkie doing my taxes, bookkeeping and software development.

 

Do you have other examples for where these kinds of people would flourish?

 

(Reference:  Consulting Psychologist Journal: Practice and Research, Acceptance of Uncertainty as and Indicator of Effective Leadership, June 2010.)

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.  

8 Key Behaviors of Successful Leaders

I want you to ask and answer the following question as honestly as you can: With the future of business being unpredictable and evolving quickly, how important is it to employ flexible and adaptable managers?

The latest issue of one my professional journals focuses its entire publication on answering this question.  Although the article focuses on businesses in general, I could relate everything I read to challenges in the real estate industry.

Rapid technology advances, more diverse workforces, more use of outsourcing specialized tasks, new forms of social networking, increased use of virtual interactions, and the need for online branding capabilities, have all contributed to an interest in this topic.  

While I can't cover everything here, one of the insights I thought most helpful concerns a manager's ability to embrace uncertainty and manage it effectively.  Hodgson and White, in their book Relax, It's Only Uncertainty, were able to identify some very interesting clusters of behaviors in managers who did this well, and clusters of behaviors in managers who did not excel.

The Adaptive Group (or most successful managers) demonstrated these measurable actions:

1. “Mystery Seekers” are fascinated by what they do not yet know.  We might describe them as taking a road just to see where it goes.  Curiosity is high.
2. “Risk tolerators” are not necessarily risk takers, but they have the willingness and ability to make choices with incomplete information.  They see mistakes as a way to learn.
3. “Future Scanners” are those who want to understand how a business operates, and constantly consider how it will play out in future states.
4. "Tenacious challengers” are tireless in solving problems.  They continue to seek solutions in a relentless way.
5. "Exiters” want everyone to be energized by what they do.  Behaviors that come out of this include wanting to make work fun.
6. “Flexible adjusters” exhibit two tendencies:  the ability to admit they are wrong and the ability to sell change to people whose self interest is against the change.
7. “Simplifiers” are able to take complicated ideas and help everyone in an organization understand where they are going.
8. “Focusers” have the ability to identify and attack a critical few actions that need to be done, as well as the ability to shift to a different few critical actions at the right time.

Which of these describes you?  Which characteristics do you struggle with or wish you possessed?  I recommend resisting the urge to become overly concerned with your weaknesses and spending a lot of time trying to overcome them - This would be very difficult to accomplish.  Instead, focus on becoming even more purposeful in developing the traits you naturally possess.  Then, fill in the gaps by surrounding yourself with people who are good at the other items.

In the next edition, I’ll share the eight traits found in “Restrainers” - those people who aren’t good managers because they resist change.

(Reference:  Consulting Psychologist Journal:  Practice and Research, Acceptance of Uncertainty as an Indicator of Effective Leadership, June 2010)

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.  

Motivation Revisited: Six Kids in a Car for 7,000 Miles

Over the past couple of weeks, Dave has been making most of the contributions to WorkPuzzle, as I have been working remotely in the Midwest.  Now, he is off to Europe for a few weeks to visit his daughter who is working in London, and I’ll be writing the WorkPuzzle entries.  Hopefully, you’ll enjoy the extended focus each of us have/will put toward WorkPuzzle during the weeks in July.

The reason for my trip to the Midwest is a music tour I decided to embark on with my family.  Some of you know this already, but my family started a bluegrass band a few years ago.  We normally perform in the Northwest a few times per month, but this summer we decided to do a cross country trip from Seattle to Indianapolis.  By the time we’re done, we’ll have performed 12 times in various communities across the country.  (If you have an interest in reading more about the band, you can visit the band website at www.noteasilybrokenmusic.com.)  Since we perform during the evenings and weekends, I’ve been able to work remotely. 

The trip has been a lot of fun, and we’ve created some great memories along the way.  But, as we conceptualized the journey, I knew there would also be some challenges. One of those challenges was going to be getting my six kids to ride in the car for 7,000 miles without killing each other.  My wife, Sally, suspected it would be similar to those experiments she read about in her psychology classes where they put rats in very confined spaces and they eventually start eating each other!

To keep this from happening, Sally started planning months ahead of time.  Of course, we had all the normal tricks such as books on tape, videos, games, crafts, etc.  But, when boredom sets in, we knew it would still be tempting to take a little bite out of a sibling.  To head this off, she put a request out to her network for ideas to keep kids occupied and civil during long car rides.

While she received many ideas, one in particular caught her attention.  It was provided by a mom who has eight kids and regularly takes trips across the country.  This woman had devised an incentive system whereby her kids could earn quarters for good behavior in the car.  Here’s how it worked:  Each child was presented with two rolls of quarters ($20), but they could not claim their quarters until the midpoint of the trip.  During the trip, if relational offenses (rudeness, disrespect, physical harm, etc.) were committed, one or more quarters would be deducted from their account.  So, at the halfway point in the trip, they could potentially earn $20 for good behavior.  The process would then be repeated for the return trip.

Now this all sounded good and we’ll try almost anything when it comes to parenting, but I did notice that this incentive system was at odds with what I had recently learned about motivation from Daniel Pink’s work (see previous blogs 1,2,3).  Research demonstrates that “carrot and stick” incentive systems are not effective.  In addition to having a little peace in the car, I was curious to see if we could defy the research.  Do those researchers really know what they’re talking about anyway?

Unfortunately, for my wife and I, they do.  We’ve now crossed the midpoint in the trip, so we held a “results ceremony” at lunch with our extended family last Sunday.  The results were not good.  Of the 480 quarters available, only 248 were claimed by our kids.  This means that there were 232 offenses committed over 3,500 miles.  I bet you’re glad that you were not in the car with us over the last three weeks!

If you dig into the data a little bit further, it’s even worse than it appears.  For three of the kids (I won’t name names), 124 out of 180 quarters were lost due to poor behavior.  Of course, these were the particular kids who we were hoping the incentive system would have the most impact on.  Where we needed behavior modification most, we had a failure rate of nearly 70%.  I knew we were in trouble when one of my boys said, “Dad, nice try on this quarter system.  The way I see it, this is just a way for me to be able to commit 80 free offenses.  I don’t really need the money.”  He said this about three hours into the trip!

So, science again triumphs over the well-intentioned schemes of desperate parents.  So...if “carrot and stick” incentive systems don’t work, what does?  The researchers are right on this account as well.  Inspiring individuals to personally buy into a meaningful purpose is what produces outstanding behaviors.  When it came to the band performances, there was a single event to which the entire family could focus.  With this goal, the negative behaviors generally disappeared.  Interestingly, the more important and difficult gigs were, the higher the level of focus and good behavior.

Hopefully, you can see how these principles could apply to the team you manage.  As for producing good behavior in the car, I’m still working on that…  

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Ben Hess.  Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.